


Secret Demons

by MzDany



Series: The Cam/Hunter universe [9]
Category: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-10
Updated: 2012-07-10
Packaged: 2017-11-09 14:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/456527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MzDany/pseuds/MzDany
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blake's imminent departure for Factory Blue forces Hunter to finally confront and battle his lifelong secret – with some unexpected help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: The timeline for this story is about a month after 'Storm before the calm' and a few weeks after my last C/H fic "Sentry Duty". Remember when Hunter asked Cam what date it was at the end of Sentry Duty? Well, here's the answer to that…

The warm morning sun streamed through the open window and into the room, dust motes floating lazily in its beams. A soft breeze rustled the leaf-covered branches of the old cypress tree outside and a lone blackbird suddenly landed on the windowsill, eying the solitary body sitting on the floor of the room for a moment before it flew on. The leather-clad figure never noticed the bird; he was too focused on his inner voice to notice anything.

' _Inhale…hold it, exhale…cleanse your mind of all invading thoughts…aw, damn.'_

With a sigh Hunter opened his eyes. This was not going to work. Head teacher or no, he was just not qualified to teach meditative techniques, even if it was to a class of only first-year students. _'Jeez, give me ten kata classes over one meditation class any day.'_

For the umpteenth time he wished he had more teachers, so he didn't have to sub this class, but since the Thunder Academy and its ninjas had been released from Lothor's imprisonment two months ago, dozens of students as well as quite a few teachers had left, unable to deal with the trauma of a one-year confinement on an alien spaceship.

Thankfully, Blake had volunteered to take over a few classes until he was leaving for Factory Blue, but the school was still way too short on teaching staff.

With another sigh, Hunter slightly re-adjusted his lotus position and closed his eyes again. _'All right, let's try this again. Inhale…'_

The sound of his door bursting open and the familiar, babbling voice it carried inside made him jump.

"Bro, check it out! It's here, it's finally here! Just came in the mail today."

Hunter glared at his little brother, but in his excitement, Blake never noticed the look as he waved an envelope into his brother's face. It had been Blake's turn to go down to Blue Bay Harbor to check on their PO Box, and whatever was in there had obviously been enough to put a huge, goofy grin on the younger Bradley's face.

"And what would _It_ be?" Hunter growled, untangling his legs and rising from the floor.

"The Factory Blue racing itinerary," Blake exclaimed. "And they sent my plane ticket, too."

A faint alarm went off in Hunter's head _. Plane ticket? Already?_

It had only been a few weeks since Roger Hanna had offered Blake the chance to get into professional motocross racing with his company, Factory Blue. Blake had been hesitant at first, torn between his loyalty to the Thunder Academy and his love for racing, but after some cajoling from Hunter and the rest of the gang, he had finally signed a one-year contract and had been nothing but psyched about it ever since.

Now Blake shrugged out of his jeans jacket, threw it on Hunter's bed absentmindedly and plopped into his brother's desk chair, flipping through the thin magazine. A moment later he let out a whoop. "Ha! And there I am!"

Hunter approached his desk and took the magazine out of Blake's hands. "Lemme see that," he said and quickly skimmed over the **_New Faces At The Track_** article.

"Not a very flattering picture, bro," he grinned, motioning to the headshot of Blake at the end of the article, but the proud expression on his face belied his words.

Blake rolled his eyes. "Dude, that was taken right at the finish line at the Blue Bay semifinals. And besides, have you ever seen _yourself_ at the end of a 30-round race?" The ex-Navy Ranger smirked and Hunter laughed. "Yeah, but my appearance is carefully cultivated. Took me years to get the messy look just right."

The two brothers grinned at each other, and Hunter handed Blake the itinerary back.

"My brother the professional motocross rider. I'm proud of you, man. Jealous, but proud," Hunter ruffled Blake's spiky hair. "Going out there into the big world, making a name for himself, grinding the competition into the dust. And don't worry about leaving me here all alone, I'll be all right." Hunter said in a mock-dramatic tone of voice, making an overly dismissive gesture with his hand, and Blake took a playful swipe at him.

"I'm not leaving you here _all alone_. You've been spending more time in Cam's bed than in your own lately," Blake grinned.

"And it's seriously interfering with my beauty sleep." Hunter promptly yawned, but managed to look smug at the same time. "I mean, last night, when…"

Blake threw up his hands. "Whoa, bro, spare me the details, _please_!"

Hunter laughed at the expression of feigned horror on his brother's face. "All right, all right. Seriously, though, it's gonna be weird having you gone."

Blake nodded. "Yeah, it's gonna be weird _being_ gone. But I'm really psyched up about it."

"I know," Hunter replied sincerely. "But hey, at least you'll always have a place to come back to, just in case you suck."

"Which I won't!" Blake retorted with a glare that Hunter didn't take seriously for a second. "But yeah, it is nice of sensei Omino to let me keep my room here."

"I'm glad about that, too. I like having my own four walls. Eighteen years of rooming with you is enough," Hunter teased him. Blake grinned good-naturedly, but the look in his eyes was rueful. Hunter caught his brother's expression, leaned forward almost conspiratorially, and winked. "Not that you'll actually be using your room much, because I'm sure that whenever you're visiting, you're gonna be spending more time in Tori's bed than in your own," the ex-Crimson Ranger smirked, mimicking Blake's earlier words.

"Smart-Ass!"

"Right back at ya!"

The two brothers smiled at each other until Hunter motioned to the still sealed envelope with Blake's plane ticket. "Anyway, so when are you leaving?"

"I dunno. The race's in a week. Let's check." Blake ripped open the envelope, studied the ticket, then looked at Hunter's MotoX calendar hanging on the wall. "Four days from today, man. I guess that makes sense, with the training and the preliminaries…"

The rest of his sentence died in his throat when he saw Hunter's face, which had suddenly lost all color. "Bro, you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Hunter's troubled gaze went to the MotoX calendar, and for a long moment he was quiet. When he finally did speak, Blake had to strain in order to hear him. "Bro, it's…It's that time of the year. I was gonna ask you later on to start crashing in here tonight for…you know."

Blake's eyes went wide. Hunter didn't need to elaborate any further and neither was there any reason for subtlety; the former Navy Ranger knew exactly what his brother was talking about and as he turned his own gaze towards the calendar, he couldn't stifle a dismayed groan. _Shit! Talk about bad timing…_

But there it was, right in front of him. Not that Hunter had marked anything on the calendar in any way; he didn't need to. The date had long been branded into both of their brains, but Blake couldn't believe how totally he had missed it this year.

Today was August 1st. And that meant _It_ would start tonight…

Blake kept staring at the calendar while Hunter was staring at nothing in particular. "How could this have so totally flown out of my head?" he finally mumbled to himself in a thick voice. Behind him, Hunter was quick to respond. "Dude, you've got a lot on your mind. Your upcoming races, helping with the Academy restoration, subbing all those classes for me…"

But Blake only shook his head, then turned and picked his jacked up from Hunter's bed, fumbling to get something out of an inside pocket.

"What are you doing?" Hunter asked, a note of alarm creeping into his voice. Blake didn't answer as he pulled his cell phone out of the jacket pocket and began to punch numbers.

"Bro…"

With the cell phone already to his ear, Blake turned to face Hunter. "I'm calling Roger Hanna. He's just gonna have to reschedule me for another race…"

He didn't get any further; Hunter crossed the room in one lightening-fast motion, grasped his wrist and punched the 'End Call' button.

"What the…?" Blake began to protest, but Hunter cut him off with a glare and a voice that could have cut glass.

"No way, man. You _are_ going to do this race."

Blake twisted his wrist out of his brother's grasp, but did not make another attempt at dialing. "And how do you suppose I do that, huh?" he exclaimed, meeting Hunter's glare with one of his own until the older Bradley suddenly averted his eyes. Hunter sat on the edge of his desk and scanned the clutter that covered most of it. He moved an empty coffee mug two inches, then put it back. Anything to not having to look at Blake right now.

"I'll be ok." It sounded less than convincing, even to his own ears and Blake promptly rolled his eyes.

"That's bullshit and you know it. And unless you suddenly thought of a miracle cure we haven't tried yet in all those years, you need me here for at least the next six nights," he snapped.

With a sigh, Hunter looked towards the window. "This could be destiny, Blake. Maybe I'm supposed to rough it this time."

"Bro, did you forget that last time you tried _roughing it_ and waking up on your own, you stopped breathing? I had to zap you to start your heart again." Blake came around to stand right in front of Hunter, waving his finger in his brother's face. "I told you back then that we're not gonna try such a stunt again, and I'm telling you the same thing now."

Hunter had been playing with the coffee mug again, but now he slammed it down onto the desk. "I won't have you blow your first race because you have to babysit your older brother who can't even manage to wake up from a fucking dream!" he growled and the effect was more powerful than if he had yelled it out loud. Blake let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Hunter, stop this! Right now! We go through this shit every year. How many different ways have we tried to get you to wake up from this or get rid of the damn nightmare altogether, and nothing's worked! It's not like you haven't made the effort, ok?

"You will not miss this race!"

"Well, I guess my trophy will look really good on your grave, then. Because that's exactly where I'm gonna put it. And then I might as well get the plot next to yours, because if I left for that damn race, I couldn't live with myself anyways."

Both brothers were staring at each other, neither one backing down.

After a long moment, Blake was the one to break the stalemate when he finally sighed and raked a hand through his hair.

"We need to find a solution for this, bro. Or at least a compromise." The younger Bradley's eyes shone with genuine concern.

Hunter's dark stare softened at his brother's expression. He let out a sigh of his own. "Yeah, I know," he mumbled.

Quiet reigned for a long moment between them until Blake shifted and scratched the back of his neck, his face taking on a sudden awkward expression.

"Look, I know how you feel about this thing, but I think I might know a solution."

Hunter narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "And that would be…?"

Blake looked at him intently. "I know it's only been you and me in this so far, but there _is_ someone else now who could help, you know?"

But before he could go on, Hunter was already shaking his head vigorously. "I don't like where this is going, Blake."

"Come on, at least hear me out!" Blake's voice now held an undertone of pleading.

"I'm _not_ dragging him into this, dude." Hunter was back to glaring at his little brother.

"Hunter, he's your partner. _I_ trust Cam enough to pass the torch to him, and besides, if you two are planning on staying together, he's bound to find out about this sooner or later anyway.

"Around this time next year at the latest," Blake added, and with a dismayed expression, Hunter turned his head to stare out the window. Blake was right, of course, but it was definitely not an option Hunter wanted to take. Next to him, Blake pressed on.

"Hunter, I think you should talk to him."

Hunter didn't reply; instead he stubbornly kept his gaze on the ancient cypress tree outside his window until Blake's voice sounded again.

"All right, then _I'll_ talk to him!"

The sound of boots crossing the room and the rustling of Blake's jacket as it was picked up from the bed finally made Hunter move. He shoved away from the desk, tucking on the vest of his teacher's uniform to avoid having to look directly at Blake. "Fine, you do that," he said, starting towards the door. "In the meantime, I have a class to teach."

He didn't, but Blake didn't know that. And he suddenly found himself in dire need of some solitude to do some major brooding.

 

_**Inner reflections…** _

Hunter found his 'contemplation spot' in the form of a tiny clearing next to a small stream in the woods. The Thunder Academy was set much deeper into the forest than the Wind Academy, so such secluded spots were plenty. With a heavy exclamation he dropped down onto the mossy ground, resting his back against a tree trunk, and for a few long moments he just focused on breathing.

' _He's your partner, and if you two are planning on staying together, he's bound to find out about this sooner or later.'_ Blake's words still echoed in his brain and Hunter ran a hand across his face. His brother's logic was undeniable, but Hunter had sincerely hoped to keep this particular piece of insight about his life from Cam as long as possible.

But fate obviously had other plans. With a sigh, Hunter picked up a pinecone and tossed it into the stream. Blake was right, he grudgingly admitted to himself, there was no way of getting through this without help. But to have to have Cam involved in this…Hunter's scowl deepened.

Not that he thought Cam wouldn't be up to the task – all it involved were a couple of firm shakes, after all. No, it was the idea of Cam seeing him at his most vulnerable that made Hunter's stomach turn.

 _Vulnerable_! Hunter hated that word and everything it represented. Vulnerability equaled weakness, and the one thing Hunter had always been proud of was his strength, both physically and mentally. No other way of surviving a first-rate ninja academy and an entire year of being a Power Ranger than to be the best he could be. But then once a year reality would kick in for a week and put him firmly back in his place. Which was usually in his bed at night, shaking and whimpering from a recurring dream he couldn't even remember – with Blake hovering over him, since Hunter was unable to rouse himself on his own.

Hunter sighed again. That was always the worst part; needing his brother's help. Not that he hadn't tried numerous times to wake up from this crap by himself, but the results of one of those endeavors made him shudder to this day.

_Panic, paralysis, burning lungs – and Blake pounding on his chest. "Shit. Breathe, Hunter, damnit!"_

Hunter was breathing _now_ , struggling to re-center himself mentally. Even years later, he still couldn't completely shake the feelings of dismay and utter embarrassment every time he remembered Blake's terrified face staring at him when he had finally come to again. After that episode, they had both agreed that Hunter would not be sleeping unsupervised for those particular few days a year, and although Hunter hated being dependent on Blake for this, it had worked out all right for them up until now.

Yeah, _up until now!_ Which brought Hunter's train of thought back to Cam. Was he willing to let Cam in on the most private aspect of his life? Did he have any other choice? _'Face it, Bradley,'_ he thought, raking a hand through his hair. _'When it comes down to it, there really isn't anyone else but Cam you'd rather have by your side, because…'_ Hunter abruptly sat up straighter as a revelation hit him. _'…because you would do the same for him if the roles were reversed.'_

That was a fact Hunter didn't even have to dwell on and with a sudden infusion of vigor he rose and brushed the grass off his pants. Better go and make sure Blake had all his facts straight when he 'exposed' the family secret to Cam.


	2. Chapter 2

Cam had just taken the teakettle off the hotplate and was about to pour the near-boiling water into his tea mug when he was interrupted by a knock on his door. He kept pouring.

"Come in."

The door swung open and Blake stepped over the threshold, grinning somewhat hesitantly.

Blake had to give him credit; if Cam was surprised to see him, he didn't show it. There was no _I didn't expect to see **you** here_ or _Blake, what a surprise!_ Instead, Cam merely smiled and nodded to him in greeting before he said, "Hi, Blake, I was just making tea. Want some?"

"Uhm…yeah, sure," the Thunder ninja replied while he gingerly entered the room.

Pouring water into a second mug, Cam threw his former teammate a glance out of the corner of his eye. Blake looked nervous. This was no casual visit.

"So what's blowing you into the Wind Academy?" Cam asked with a crooked grin as he unwrapped another teabag and stuck it into the mug.

"Oh, a couple of things," Blake said as he plopped into a chair. "I was wondering if you could spare someone from here to take over the classes I'm subbing until Hunter has hired some more teaching staff. I got my itinerary from Factory Blue today and I'm leaving in a few days. "

"That's excellent, Blake," Cam exclaimed but Blake offered way too weak a grin - which prompted Cam to think that the core of the younger Bradley's unexpected visit was somehow linked with his imminent departure.

"I'll make some inquiries with the senseis here," Cam said, "We'll work something out, don't worry." He handed Blake his tea. "Maybe I can take over some classes myself, at least the meditative ones. I'm not very busy over here with just my small samurai class."

That earned him a grateful nod from Blake, but something else was obviously still bothering the former Navy Ranger. Cam sipped his tea, watching Blake play with the string of his teabag for a moment until the younger boy suddenly looked up. "There's something else, too," he said, suddenly looking like he'd rather be in the Abyss of Evil than here. "It has to do with Hunter."

Cam tensed slightly. Had anything happened to Hunter? They hadbeen together only yesterday and he had seemed fine…

"There's something about Hunter you don't know, Cam," Blake continued, and Cam noticed he was holding the mug handle so tight that his knuckles were slowly turning white. "Something no one knows, actually, and believe me, Hunter's not thrilled that I have to tell you about it and if the circumstances were any different he definitely wouldn't want me to be here right now…"

"Blake, what is it?"

Blake blinked. "Right. Uhm…" He took a breath. "Every year for about a week Hunter has these…these dreams. Actually, it's always the same dream."

Cam leaned slightly forward in his chair. "What kind of dream?"

"Well, that's just it, he hardly remembers any of it once he comes out of it, but the little bit he has been able to recall over the years is always the same stuff; voices, a few quick glimpse of some faces…" Blake looked up. "And…fear."

"So these are nightmares, then?"

Blake gesticulated with his tea mug. "Dude, Hunter totally _hates_ to call it that. We always refer to it as The Dream…or just _It_."

"But you might as well call it that, because that's exactly what it is," a voice suddenly sounded from the direction of the door, causing Blake and Cam to flinch. Hunter was leaning against the doorjamb, knob in hand, glowering at his brother. "And could you please close the door while you are detailing my most personal problem here?"

Blake winced. "Crap. Sorry, bro," he mumbled as Hunter stepped inside the room, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Cam was silent, but his almond eyes were fixed on his boyfriend's face until Hunter's gaze finally, and reluctantly, flickered towards him. "Hey."

"Hey," the samurai returned the greeting.

Blake was looking at Hunter, too. His brother's eyes were hooded and the grim expression on his face was still in place, but it looked like it had chipped around the edges. He must have gotten through to him, after all. Otherwise, why would he be here?

There was a short, awkward silence, until Cam held up his mug towards Hunter. "Tea?"

Hunter shook his head wordlessly. He was tense, the kind of tension that could undoubtedly be seen and felt by Cam and Blake, but unfortunately there was nothing he could do about that right now. Hands stuffed into the pockets of his uniform pants, he cast a quick glance at the two most important people in his life before he began to pace aimlessly around the room. "So how far have you gotten yet?"

Blake took this question to be directed at him. "Not far yet. Actually, I was just starting to elaborate."

Looking at anything but the two young men in the chairs, Hunter mumbled, "Go on, then. Don't let me stop your flow."

"Maybe there is something you would like to contribute?" Cam inquired in his usual, calm manner, and for some reason it irritated Hunter today.

"No," he said, careful not to sound brusque. "Not yet."

He kept up his pacing in the background, then finally settled onto the windowsill while Blake verbally walked Cam through a quick history of The Dream.

Cam was listening without interrupting and the analytical look on his partner's face made Hunter think of a psychiatrist session for some reason. If Cam were to suddenly whip out a notepad and pencil, he didn't think he'd even be surprised.

At the end of Blake's account, Cam leaned forward in his chair again.

"All right, so what exactly are his symptoms?"

Blake frowned, thinking. "The usual nightmare signs, I guess. Gasps, groans, his body alternates between thrashing and getting really tense, lots of times he reaches out…"

"Any coherent vocalizations?" Cam injected.

"Huh?"

"Does he say anything?"

"Only broken words. Things like _No_ or _Don't._ Sometimes he'll say _Wait_ or…"

Hunter didn't like it one bit that he had to listen to his brother and his boyfriend talk about him as if he wasn't even there. Yet he understood; Cam needed to get a feel for the situation and there was nothing that he, Hunter, could contribute to this exchange of information anyways. But that didn't make him feel any less distant and left out. Hunter ran a hand through his hair while he stared out of Cam's window. The entire situation felt so surreal; if he put his mind to it he could probably pretend they were talking about somebody completely different. _Yeah…_

"Did you ever see a doctor about this?" Cam voice floated towards him. The ex-Green Ranger had to repeat his question before Hunter caught on that he was addressing him.

"Yeah, Blake dragged me to one a few years ago. We told him as little as we could get away with about our backgrounds and in the end he suggested psychotherapy."

"I take it you didn't follow up on that advice?"

Hunter snorted. "I half-considered it until we found out how much those shrinks charge per hour. And at that time my secret ninja academy student health insurance unfortunately didn't cover those kinds of treatments."

Cam ignored the sarcasm. "So what did you do?"

"Nothing. Kept on sticking it out every year like we always do." Hunter slid off the windowsill, resuming his earlier pacing.

Cam followed Hunter with his eyes, trying to figure out whether he looked nervous, irritated or embarrassed and came to the conclusion that it was a mixture of all three.

He wished he could envelope his partner in a comforting hug, but that would have been the wrong thing to do; he sensed that the last thing Hunter would want right now was physical contact, so Cam suppressed a sigh and turned back to Blake.

"It's interesting that this happens within a specific time frame every year. Any idea why?"

Hunter was behind his brother's chair at that particular moment, so Cam caught the brief pause in the former Crimson Ranger's pacing and the alarmed look he threw at the back of Blake's head.

_Was there something Hunter knew that Blake didn't? Or was it something about his question that both of them didn't want **him** to know? _

But Blake didn't look like he was lying or hiding something when he said, "No. I've always wondered about that, too."

Cam stared into his tea mug for a few moments. A memory from two weeks ago suddenly flickered before his mental eyes. **_(1)_** Sentry duty by the Abyss of Evil, a huge oak tree – and Hunter and him rolling beneath it in the grass, wearing nothing but sweat-damp skin. Normally, when remembering this day, it was their actions more than their words that stuck in his mind, but now he _did_ recall something Hunter had said that day.

' _Wait, what date is it?'_

' _I think it's July 16th, why?'_

' _Oh, nothing. Nothing important.'_

They had been making plans to spend more nights together in each other's rooms, and Hunter's question had struck Cam as quite odd. Hunter, though, had brushed it off and quickly and efficiently distracted him by doing things to him that caused Cam to blush even now. Consequently, he had never thought to follow up on that mysterious 'date' question.

But now it apparently had just answered itself.

"How come you've never told me about this before?" Cam asked quietly.

Hunter cast his partner a rueful look and gave a weak shrug.

"Cam, there've always been some things that were solely between Blake and me. No offense, ok? It's just that…" Hunter stopped, a thoughtful look on his face.

Cam waved it off. "None taken."

"You're right, bro, we've shared a lot of stuff throughout our lives," Blake injected, "but I really think it's the best choice to let Cam in on this one.  
"Besides," the younger Bradley added with an amused side-glance at Cam. "By now he's practically family, too."

Hunter said nothing; instead he folded his arms across his chest, leaned his back against the wall and turned his dark gaze towards the door. Cam could only hope no one took this ill-timed opportunity to knock on his door, for whoever were to cross this threshold right now would surely be struck dead by Hunter's stare.

Blake had turned back to Cam. "Hunter doesn't mind me passing the torch to you," he continued and threw his brother a pointed look. "Right, bro?"

"Yeah. I'm ecstatic about it," the blond Thunder ninja told the doorframe with an expression on his face that clearly belied his words.

An awkward silence spread through the room until Cam cleared his throat.

"So when do we start this whole thing?"

Blake scratched his head. "Well, it's most likely gonna start tonight, but I'm not leaving until four days from now, so...Friday night."

Cam nodded, his face unreadable. "Friday it is, then."

Hunter took that as their cue to leave and pushed away from the wall. When he passed Cam's chair, he hesitated, but then touched Cam lightly on the shoulder.

"All right, I'll see you then."

Cam automatically reached up, placing his hand over Hunter's. He felt the hand on his shoulder give a squeeze before it withdrew way too fast. When he looked up, his boyfriend's eyes were on him.

"Thanks, Cam."

Cam could tell that Hunter was highly uncomfortable with the entire situation, but his partner made an effort to smile, giving him a wobbly version of his usual crooked grin before he turned and strode towards the door.

Cam looked after him thoughtfully; Hunter's obvious reluctance to any physical contact with him beyond this short hand-squeezing was disconcerting and showed the samurai just how upsetting the whole situation was for his partner. Normally, Hunter was always the more physical of them. He showed it more in private than in public, of course, but even in public he would usually seek out some kind of contact, however subtle.

Across the room, Hunter walked out the door and into the hallway without looking back and Cam had a strong feeling that he had just seen the last of Hunter until Friday.

Blake rose from his chair as well. Contrary to Hunter, though, Blake enveloped Cam in a brief, grateful hug before he turned towards the exit as well. Cam followed him to the door, seeing him out. At the threshold Blake turned around. "Thanks a lot, Cam. I really appreciate this, bro."

Cam almost smiled at Blake's subconscious use of that expression. He had been doing it more and more often since Hunter and Cam had announced their relationship to the rest of the team. The former Navy Ranger made a quick gesture towards the hallway. "Hey, don't take his behavior wrong, ok? He gets like this every year…withdrawn, you know?" He fumbled for more words, but Cam simply gave him a friendly pat on the arm.

"It's okay, I understand."

"I'm glad. Well…I'll see you Friday."

But just before Blake was about to walk through the door, the former Samurai Ranger held him back with a hand on his shoulder. "Blake…" There was one more thing Cam needed to know.

"Why me?" he asked.

Blake regarded him quizzically for a moment as if to ask _What kind of question is this?_ before he replied. "Who better for this job than you?"

"You didn't just ask me to do this because I'm sleeping with your brother?" Two almond eyes behind small, wire-framed glasses seemed to bore straight into Blake's head. Blake met the gaze without flinching.

"I asked you because I know Hunter loves you. And I think the feeling's mutual." The former Navy Ranger looked at Cam pointedly. "You are the only one apart from me he would trust with this – not to mention that you are the only one _I_ would entrust with this task." Blake paused briefly. "This is my brother's life we're talking about. And he's the only family I have left.  
"I just know you'll take good care of him," he added before he clasped Cam briefly on the shoulder and stepped out into the hallway to follow his brother.

After a moment, Cam shut the door and went towards his sofa, picking up his cold tea in passing. Mug in hand, he plopped down into the cushions, his brain all the while working ceaselessly to process everything he had been told in the last half hour. He took an absentminded sip of tea, tasting neither the temperature nor the flavor.

_Hunter…plagued by lifelong nightmares that he can't rouse himself from, he doesn't recall much of its content even though it's the same dream every year…all he knows is that it scares the hell out of him. And why the annual recurrences at the exact same dates in the first place?_

The longer he thought about it, the more unanswered questions popped into his head. Besides, something didn't quite add up; he just couldn't put his finger on it yet. He was hoping he could make more sense out of his partner's strange affliction after he witnessed the dream unfold with his own eyes. Not that he was eager to see it.

Cam sighed. The thought of Hunter having had to endure this every year made his stomach turn. Cam pictured himself having to live with such a distressing handicap every year; thrashing in the throes of a dream he wouldn't be able to remember and therefore couldn't analyze once awake, having to rely on _his father_ standing by his bedside to help him wake up…  
Cam grimaced. Not merely distressing but utterly unacceptable. Not to mention freaky as hell.

And that was even before considering that Hunter's condition was one step worse than that for there was the real danger of bodily harm if he didn't manage to wake up on time. Now what sort of _dream_ could have that kind of effect?

Cam combed a hand through his hair; he was only too aware of the enormity of the task set before him. Blake had just essentially placed Hunter's life into his hands.

In the balmy air of his room, Cam shuddered.

 

**_The Dream…_ **

"N…No, _no_!"

Blake's eyes flew open the moment he heard the sounds coming from Hunter's bed. Predispositioned by years of practice to be instantly awake at the first onset of The Dream, he nevertheless displayed no great hurry as he heaved himself from the Airbed. This wasn't new to him, after all. As a matter of fact, over the years he had given up keeping track of how many times he had done what he was about do now.

He padded the short distance over to Hunter's bed and flipped on the bedside lamp.

The sight before him was disturbingly familiar: Under the thin blanket, only Hunter's head and shoulders were visible and said head was moving in rapid and sporadic movements from side to side. Hunter's eyes were not only closed but squeezed shut and a fine film of perspiration shone on his face. Blake could clearly see the cords of his brother's taunt neck muscles, and his quick, shallow breathing told him that Hunter was already well into The Dream. Suddenly, Hunter gave a sharp gasp and his arm jerked out from under the blanket, grasping the air, his fingers closing around an imaginary object and dug so hard into his palm that the whites of his knuckles showed.

"Don't…"

Blake positioned himself next to Hunter, out of reach of the closed fist and gave his brother a few firm shakes on the shoulder.

"Hunter! Wake up, come on. Open your eyes, man!"

After shaking him, Blake backed off. Over the years he had occasionally gotten slugged while shaking Hunter awake, although many times Hunter reacted completely different – actually reaching out, like he did right now, as if wanting to hold on to something from his dream.

 _But if this is a nightmare, what are you trying to hold on to?_ Over the years, Blake had often pondered this question. Unfortunately, his brother was no help in this matter; like he had told Cam, Hunter remembered next to nothing after waking up. It was as if his mind suppressed The Dream the instant he went from sleep to waking state.

On the bed, Hunter kept thrashing. His mouth opened as if to scream, but only a tormented gurgle came out. A tremor rippled through him and his body became rigid. Blake shook him again, on both shoulders, more forceful this time. "HUNTER!"

With a last hoarse cry, Hunter's eyes flew open and Blake breathed a sigh of relief.

"All right, I'm here…I'm here," Hunter mumbled. It was a phrase he had begun using a few years ago to indicate that he was awake. Blake sat on the edge of the bed, watching silently until Hunter had propped himself up into a sitting position.

With a heavy exclamation, the blond Thunder ninja leaned back against the headboard, running his hands first over his eyes, then through his sweat-damp hair. Blake noticed that they were still shaking slightly.

"Took you a while this time," the younger Bradley said quietly.

Hunter just nodded, his eyes fixed on the wall while he worked on steadying his breathing. "Yeah. Looks like this year is gonna be a tough one," he said thickly and turned to look at Blake. "I don't know if I can do this, man. I don't know if I can stand having Cam see me like this…" With a frustrated noise he drew his head back. It connected with the headboard with a heavy _Thud_. Blake winced at the sound, but Hunter simply stared at a spot on the wall, his eyes filled with an inner pain that had nothing to do with the impact of his head.

Seeing his brother like that cut into Blake like a dagger. He shifted on the bed frame. "Bro, I can still call Roger," he said tentatively only to have Hunter jerk his head around, shaking it in the process. "No!"

"No," he repeated, somewhat calmer. "I'll get through this with Cam. But, damn, this just sucks so bad!" Hunter closed his eyes and his chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh before he transferred his gaze back to the wall. "Every year I wonder why this is happening to me, Blake. Some people have to live with cancer, others have to live with AIDS…and I have to live with _this_ , but I wonder why we all have to live with this crap in the first place?"

Blake gave him a wry look. "Very philosophical, bro, but what are you doing comparing this to a disease? You are not sick!"

Hunter's eyes were sad as they refocused on Blake. "I don't know, Blake. Sometimes I just don't know."

Blake was about to protest, but his brother slapped him on the side of his shoulder before he could say anything. "Let's get back to sleep, ok? We both have a full schedule tomorrow."

Blake gave a resigned nod. "All right." He patted Hunter's cheek in brotherly affection, got a weak grin in return and went back to his Airbed. Theoretically, he could have gone back to his own room now, for Hunter never dreamt more than once a night, but he sensed that Hunter wanted him close, and that was fine; he only had four more days to spend with his older brother, and even with the ominous dream hovering over them for the next three nights, he was determined not to let that spoil their time together before he had to leave. He needed the closeness as much as Hunter did.

He was creeping back under his covers as Hunter's voice sounded from his bed.

"Thanks, bro. Night."

"No sweat, man. Night." Blake stared up at the murky ceiling of Hunter's room, waiting for the rhythmic breathing that told him Hunter had fallen back asleep. Thankfully, his brother was always able to do that pretty fast, whereas it usually took Blake a while to find his own inner peace again.

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths; hopefully, Cam was up to this task.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) See "Sentry duty"


	3. Chapter 3

Blue Bay National Airport was unusually quiet for a Friday morning. There were no lines at either the taxi stands or at any of the check-in counters of the five airlines that serviced the city. The only thing that broke the idyll were the two figures sprinting through the departure terminal towards the waiting plane at Gate 2, where two United agents were boarding the last of their passengers.

"I can't believe you didn't start packing until this morning," Hunter grumbled as they rounded a souvenir cart. Next to him, Blake shrugged, trying to keep up with his brother's long-legged pace.

"Didn't think it would take long to pack."

"Dude, it took you forever just to get all your hair-care products together. Worse than a girl!"

Blake just grinned as they reached the boarding counter. The ex-Navy Ranger handed his ticket to the agent, and while the man verified Blake's information in the computer, Hunter pulled his brother a few steps back and lowered his voice. "Listen, don't you dare show up back here unannounced in the next few days, you hear? Long-distance streaks are extremely taxing, if you remember…"

"What makes you think I would?" Blake asked in feigned exasperation.

"Oh, come on, I've only known you all your life," Hunter said with a half-smirk that earned him a dark look from Blake.

"Blake, don't worry, okay? Cam and I will make it through this somehow." Seeing the look on Blake's face, he quickly continued. "Hey, _you_ were the one who set all this up, after all."

Blake took his ticket back from the gate agent, then raised his hands in capitulation. "All right, but I'll call you tomorrow!"

"Fine. Now get going, will ya?" Hunter pressed, eying the other United agent waiting impatiently at the boarding gate. "Or you might have to do that long-distance streaking after all."

He pulled Blake in for a quick, yet fierce embrace. "Get out of here. Go!"

Blake's mouth was set in a tight line as he stepped back and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He fixed Hunter with a long, penetrating look, not caring whether the ticket agents behind him were drumming their fingers onto the counter. "I…I'll see ya, bro."

Hunter nodded, forming his mouth into something he hoped resembled his usual crooked grin and made a shooing motion with his hands.

The airline ticketing agent closed the ramp door almost immediately after Blake had stepped through it, leaving Hunter to stand forlornly in the space between the gate counter and a row of plastic seats, staring through the huge panoramic window at the plane that would carry his brother way too far away for comfort. He drew a long, ragged breath, held it, then expelled it mumbling, "And you better win this race."

 

_**Some time later…** _

Hunter knew he was on a short fuse. Thankfully, this was his last katana class for the day, for he had repeatedly snapped at his students for minor details that he normally would just have let slide. And from the way his ninjas were looking at him, his usual 'tough guy' face must have been set even harder than normal.

Problem was, he didn't care. Not today.

He was tired; it had been a long day, from the early morning rush to the airport to his overflowing class schedule – and more. The physical fatigue he could handle; it was the inner exhaustion from his nightmares that strained him more. Although he was usually able to fall back asleep pretty quickly after his nightly 'episodes', he never woke rested the entire time they haunted him. The symptoms were the same every year, so he knew he wouldn't be getting a good nights' sleep for at least another two or three days. Nevertheless, he could deal with that, had been dealing with it all these years. What he _couldn't_ deal with, however, was the highly discomforting change of routine this year.

Wearily, he rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand before he addressed the ill-at-ease ninjas student before him once more, trying to elaborate on some of the boy's mistakes during the previous exercise in as calm a voice as possible.

The student listened, nodded, promised to do better next time and was just about to bow when his eyes fixed on something beyond Hunter's shoulder. That, together with the tingling of his own ninja senses, told Hunter that someone was there.

He turned to see Cam leaning against a tree a few yards behind him, dressed casually in jeans and the short-sleeved shirt with horizontal stripes in four different shades of green that Hunter had gotten him as a birthday present. With his relaxed half-smile, Cam looked good enough to eat and normally Hunter's thoughts would have instantly turned to doing just that the moment he got Cam to his room. Unfortunately, life wouldn't be back to normal for at least another two days and for once, Cam's presence did not have its desired effect on Hunter.

He gave Cam a curt nod, then turned back to his class, dismissing them for the day. He remained where he was, watching as his students dispersed from of the training plaza, until Cam appeared at his shoulder.

"Here for your babysitting duty?" Hunter hadn't intended to sound snappy, but it came out that way nevertheless. Luckily, Cam was unfazed.

"I'm here to spend the night with you. You've never complained about that before."

"Sorry," Hunter mumbled, his face softening. "Edgy, that's all."

Cam simply inclined his head in acknowledgement, bumped Hunter's shoulder with his and said, "Come on, let's get something to eat." He glanced at his partner's uniform. "Want to change first?"

Hunter nodded, and they made their way to his room.

However, his mood changed when they got there. Once inside, Hunter took off his leather top, then suddenly grabbed a startled Cam around the waist and, in one smooth move, threw the samurai onto the bed, pinning his arms above his head.

Cam could have broken Hunter's grip three different ways in under two seconds, if he wanted to - which he didn't. The blond ninja's body on top of him felt too good to move. Besides, after four days of not seeing so much as a crimson shadow of Hunter, Cam was more than happy to be on the receiving side of his affection.

"Or we could stay in and snack on other things," Hunter smirked suggestively, making no secret out of what it was he preferred to put in his mouth.

Cam grinned up at him. "Normally I would like nothing better…if I weren't starving right now. And I won't even ask when the last time was _you_ had any food."

Hunter narrowed his eyes in contemplation. Cam had him there. Hunter couldn't remember what he had for breakfast – or if he had had any at all.

"Besides, you should get at least some of your protein from an actual plate." Cam wiggled out from underneath Hunter, then held out a hand to pull him up, smirking at the Thunder ninja's wry look.

 

_**Food…** _

The communal dining hall of the Thunder Academy was smaller than its Wind counterpart, but the food was just as good. They had no trouble finding an empty table, for it was Friday evening and most of the students had bolted for Blue Bay Harbor the moment their senseis had released them for the weekend. And the few students and teachers that had remained on academy grounds barely glanced at Cam; his presence was as common a sight here by now as Hunter's was in the Wind Academy mess hall.

They grabbed trays and headed to the serving stations. Cam was pickier about his dinner than Hunter, and by the time he arrived at their table, Hunter was already busy devouring his food. Cam eyed the contents of his partner's plate skeptically.

"Let's see: polysaturated fat, sodium, sugar…" Cam shook his head. "You'll be dead by the age of forty."

Hunter wasn't moved by this exclamation. "Not at the rate I'm exercising," he promptly shot back, his crooked grin somewhat distorted by a cheek full of food.

Cam simply couldn't let this one slide. "Which exercises? The ones in or out of uniform?" he grinned and speared a mouthful of his own dinner onto his fork, eating without taking his eyes off Hunter.

Hunter grinned back. "Both, but I like the ones out of uniform best." He gave Cam a look that all but said _and I'll show you some impressive moves once we get back to my room._ Cam snorted a laugh, returning the look with one of his own. _Bring it on!_

For a while they ate in comfortable silence, tossing back and forth only occasional remarks.

"I don't know where you're putting it all," Cam commented after Hunter stole a chicken drumstick from his plate since the Thunder ninja's own plate was already empty.

Hunter shrugged casually. "Hey, I've been working hard all day. Besides, I'm still growing."

Cam made a face. "God, I hope not; otherwise you might have to change professions and take up basketball."

"Nah, I'd be the downfall of the NBA." Somehow, Hunter managed to chomp down on the drumstick and chuckle at the same time.

Cam eyed him surreptitiously while he ate. For a moment he was almost the usual Hunter. _Almost._ The differences were subtle, but Cam picked up on them nevertheless. The way Hunter was stabbing at his food just a little too hard, the fact that his grin never quite reached his eyes and his posture was just a bit too rigid. Not to mention the fact that he was working just a little too hard on not letting any of this show.

All of this wouldn't have fooled Blake for a second, but since Cam was still new to it all, it took him a minute to catch on. He wondered how much Hunter's mood would deteriorate once they got back to his room. Cam cast a glance out the window; dusk was already well under way, the sky taking on an ever-darkening shade of purple.

 _No use procrastinating_. Cam gathered up their empty glasses and plates. "Ready to go?"

Hunter looked anything but ready as he pushed his chair back. "All right, let's get this over with."

 

_**Relaxation techniques…** _

A little while later, back in Hunter's room, Cam was studying his boyfriend from the doorway of the bathroom.

Hunter was reclining in his desk chair which he had tilted back on two legs, his feet propped right up on top of a stack of papers. Some Thunder ninjas were going to get their test papers back with boot prints on them.

He was nervous. Cam could feel the tense energy simmering underneath the feigned insouciance as the blond ninja flipped through a magazine, pretending to be interested in an article.

A nervous Hunter was hard to distract. Cam briefly wondered if Blake had a routine to calm Hunter down before bedtime. He hadn't thought to ask, however, so even if the younger Bradley did, Cam still had to improvise right now.

Fortunately, he knew one tried-and-true method to get his partner's mind off the impending nighttime hours; at least for a little while.

Cam smiled to himself while he approached the desk chair to stand behind it, then wordlessly took the magazine out of Hunter's hand and tilted the blond man's head back for a long and deep, inverted kiss. Hunter's response was almost immediate; his hand came up, circling around the samurai's neck to hold his head in place while he kissed him back and for a long moment they simply enjoyed the new sensation of their tongues exploring each other's mouths from an upturned perspective.

Hunter grinned up at him when their mouths parted. "Hey, you took that idea from 'Spiderman'. I've seen that movie, too, you know."

"Yeah, so? You complaining?"

"No, just wondering which one of us is the girl."

"Oh, we can find that out real fast," Cam murmured with a glint in his eyes as he leaned over Hunter, his hand snaking over the Thunder ninja's chest and towards the waistband of his jeans.

 

_**Cam's encounter with The Dream…** _

The silvery moonlight that fell through the bare window bathed the two naked figures moving in unison on the mattress in an almost ghostly glow. The rhythmic creaking of the bed frame and the occasional gasps and pants were the only noises in the room. Gradually, the movements of the figure on top became more urgent, until he suddenly gave a hoarse cry, followed only a moment later by a second one from the body beneath.

Breathless, Cam collapsed onto the mattress next to Hunter and they held each other silently while the sweat was drying between their bodies.

"Think you can go to sleep now?" Cam asked and Hunter didn't have to look at him; he _heard_ the grin in his voice.

"Are you kidding? I'm halfway into oblivion already," the blond man mumbled. "And that's exactly the effect I want."

Cam chuckled. "Well, normally I would take offense to the insinuation that my most profound effect on you is putting you to sleep, but…"

"And normally I'd be teasing the heck out of you about that," Hunter pulled Cam closer. "But tonight I just don't have the energy."

He contradicted his words when he suddenly _did_ turn to face Cam, eyes now wide open. "Cam, I don't want you to take this wrong, okay, but…" He gave the samurai an awkward look before his eyes moved on to fall onto Blake's Airbed still on the floor a few feet away. "Maybe it would be better for you to sleep over there. I mean, you heard what Blake said – I thrash around when this starts, and I don't want to hurt you by accident."

Cam was shaking his head even before Hunter had finished his sentence. "That is Blake's place over there; mine is right here with you, you hear?"

The two partners locked eyes for a moment, but Cam's voice held a note of finality Hunter just didn't have the resolve to challenge. Not right now, not when he was still basking in the warmth of afterglow with sleep moving into every limb of his body with full force. So he merely shifted, draped a leg over Cam's and an arm across his chest. The soothing motions of Cam's fingers winding through his hair, gently massaging his scalp, were the final straw that pushed him into dreamland. Not a minute later he was sound asleep curled up into his partner's arms.

Peaceful slumber lasted for almost two hours before Cam was roused by a sudden twitching motion and a grunt. He blinked and found himself looking right into Hunter's pained face. His partner's eyes were still squeezed shut, but under the closed eyelids Cam could see rapid movement. Hunter's lips twitched just before he opened his mouth. "D…Don't!"

Cam knew he should be acting, should be taking hold of Hunter's shoulders and shake him awake, but instead he couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination how Hunter's nightmare played out across his usually handsome features.

Hunter's face held an expression of wordless agony. Cam had never seen a look even remotely like it before – on anyone.

Back when they were still Power Rangers, Hunter had been the physically strongest of the team - even Shane had grudgingly conceded to that fact after a while. Moreover, while still Rangers, he had stared down every single one of them all at one point or another with his patented 'Hunter glare' and had always charged at the meanest-looking monsters without even a fraction of the kind of terror that was showing on his unguarded face right now.

Perspiration had already begun to dampen his hair and a few wet, dark-blond strands stuck to his forehead. He let out a garbled cry, throwing his head from side to side.

Cam sat up on one elbow and grasped Hunter's upper arm. "Hunter..."

"No!" The blond man wrest his arm out of Cam's grip, grasping at the air at the same time and for half a moment Cam thought he saw dark red sparks crackle from Hunter's fingertips.

"Oh god no..." The rest of the broken sentence was cut off by a choked sob, but it sounded like ' _don't go'_ to Cam.

Hunter kicked, making the blanket that covered them both slide down to their waists.

Cam resolutely gripped his partner's shoulder. "Wake up, Hunter. _Wake. Up_!"

Hunter reared up, popping back into awareness with a deep heave of breath not unlike a drowning man. He did not look at Cam; instead, he turned away, covered his face with one trembling hand and just breathed.

Cam waited, making his own inhalations and exhalations deliberately slow to calm his own racing heart. He let Hunter regain his composure for a moment before he asked, "Hunter, what did you see?"

Hunter didn't respond; instead, he ran his shaky hand across his face. Cam grasped him by the shoulder.

"What do you remember? Quickly, before it fades."

The blonde man shook his head. "I dunno, it's too vague…"

" _Think, Hunter!_ Try to recall anything, anything at all. Faces, sounds, feelings, _tell me!_ "

Hunter blinked a few times, obviously trying to do just that. He ran his tongue between his lips. It wasn't meant to be suggestive, but rather an attempt to get some moisture into his overly dry mouth.

"There is…someone there with me. A face, real close. A man – but I hear a woman's voice, too." Hunter frowned, frustration contorting his features.

Cam shifted so that he was directly in Hunter's line of vision. "What is this voice saying? Is it talking, or shouting at you? Is it threatening you?"

"No, not at all, but I…" Hunter was quickly becoming irritated. "I can't remember the words, but whatever it says…scares me. Scares the hell out of me." He looked away, his eyes fixing onto his balled fists.

Cam tightened his grip on Hunter's shoulder. "All right. What else? Where are you, for example. Do you recognize your surroundings? Any particular landmarks? Is there any background noise…?"

Hunter rubbed his temple, frowning so hard that his eyes narrowed to mere slits. "It's too fuzzy already…damn!" Hunter sighed and raised his eyes. "No use. It's gone."

Cam was both astounded and dismayed at the stew of emotions he saw on his partner's face. Lingering remnants of fear, frustration, weariness, self-doubt…and above all a hopelessness that sliced into Cam's heart like a precision laser. As much as he wanted more information, the need to comfort outweighed everything else at the look on Hunter's face and Cam reached out, pulling the blond ninja close to him and back down into the warmth of the pillows and blanket.

Not much later, peace and quiet had once again settled over them. Cam, however, could find no sleep; seeing the effects of The Dream had shaken him more than he had expected. Hunter, on the other hand, was out cold again.

Suddenly, a cloud must have pushed itself in front of the moon, for the room was steadily getting darker, up to a point where Cam could barely see the outlines of Hunter's face even though he was nestled into the crook of the samurai's shoulder.

Cam was a little surprised at how quickly Hunter had fallen back asleep, but he figured it was his partner's way of compensating for some much-needed sleep; he remembered that Blake had told him the dream only occurred once a night.

Cam sighed; they could keep doing this together every year from now on, but for Cam this kind of help was not enough; as a matter of fact, Cam didn't see this as _helping_ at all.

There had to be something else he could do; something more efficient, something that would _really_ help Hunter, and the only thing that came to his mind was: _Don't just treat the symptoms; weed out the whole dream by its roots instead._

And suddenly, the answer hit him. Literally, for out of the depths of his mind, an old, long-forgotten memory surged forward and if Cam hadn't had the dead weight of a grown Thunder ninja half-draped over him, he would have jolted upright in bed. It wasn't so much the memory that sent the sudden rush of adrenaline through him but the idea that came with it at the same time.

_Of course! How could I have forgotten…? So long ago...but it might just work!_

Cam blinked into the darkness. It wasn't without risks, but at least it was an option…Problem was that it involved another, very specific, individual. He remembered Hunter's reactions during Blake's initial account of The Dream a few days ago; it was pretty safe to say that Hunter would be less than thrilled to have yet another person involved in this dilemma, but the plan that was currently forming in his head simply could not be executed by him, Cam, alone. It required help of a very particular kind. Fortunately, Cam knew just where to find it.

In the darkness of the room, Cam listened to Hunter's breathing and the beating of his own heart. And he made up his mind.

' _I'm sorry, Hunter,'_ he silently apologized to his partner. _'I hope you won't think I'm betraying your trust with what I'm going to do, but it's the only thing I can think of that might help you.'_


	4. Chapter 4

Cam walked solemnly along the pebbled pathway that led him towards his destination, Sensei Watanabe's meditation pagoda. He was hoping his father would be there. Before Lothor's attack, this particular spot was Sensei's personal sanctum sanctorum, and since the schools' reconstruction, Cam had found his father here more times than not.

Cam rounded the corner, and there was the object of his quest, sitting on the simple stone bench beneath the gabled terracotta roof, eyes closed, posture relaxed.

Cam waited silently at a respectful distance. There was no need to make his presence known; he knew his father had sensed his approach long since. After a few moments, Sensei opened his eyes and wordlessly inclined his head. Cam stepped forward to sit on the bench next to the older man, and for a long moment, both men simply looked straight ahead and over the grounds below them, taking in the familiar scenes of black-clad students performing a Wind kata exercise in flawless synchrony. Cam couldn't help himself as a content sigh escaped his throat; he had lost count of how often he had sat here with his father over the years, but only after the attack had he realized just how important a scene like this was for the health of his mind and soul.

As if he had read his son's mind, Sensei suddenly spoke up. "One of the things that have kept me sane this past year, my son, was the hope of seeing a view like this again."

Cam grinned. "And here I was, thinking you were clinging to your sanity because six rambunctious teenagers were in desperate need of your wisdom and guidance."

The corners of Sensei's mouth flicked upwards as he threw a side-glance at his son. "Wrong, it was _despite_ those six rambunctious teenagers that I kept my sanity."

Father and son shared a chuckle before Sensei turned his head and fixed Cam with an all-too-knowing look. "And I sense that one of those _'teenagers'_ now has something on his mind he would like to share?"

"You could say that." Cam exhaled. "It has to do with Hunter."

Sensei Watanabe cast his son an inquiring glance, but he was way too Eastern to just plain out ask Cam what the problem was, so he simply waited.

Cam shifted in his seat. "Hunter would freak out if he knew I'm going to talk to you about this, but frankly I can't seem to come up with an answer myself, so I was hoping you could help him."

Sensei's brows creased just a fraction of an inch. "You might have to elaborate a little more here, son."

"Of course." Cam rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to decide just where to begin. "You see, Hunter has this problem…"

 

**_Memories…_ **

"And Hunter has had these nightmares all his life?" Sensei asked almost fifteen minutes later when Cam had finished relaying Blake's account of The Dream, together with a recollection of his own experience from the previous night.

Cam nodded solemnly. "Blake said he's had it as far as they can think back."

With a grave expression on his face, Sensei Watanabe looked out over his school and for a long moment, neither of them spoke. Cam waited, imagining the gears turning in his father's head just as they had in his after witnessing last night's highly disturbing episode. He was also hoping that the old man would arrive at the same conclusion for a possible cure for Hunter's condition as Cam had last night - for Kanoi Watanabe possessed a very unique skill.

Sensei Watanabe was not only a ninja master, but also a teacher of several types of meditation; this was a fact that made him adept in dream analysis and – to a much lesser-known degree – hypnosis. But very few people knew that he was quite proficient in one type of hypnosis in particular.

Cam was one of those few, and judging by the intent look his father was directing at him he had no doubts that the old teacher knew what Cam was going to ask him next. _Might as well do it…_ "Dad…"

A steady hand on his arm stopped him. "Cam, it's been quite a long time since I've exercised this particular skill." Sensei's onyx eyes bore into him. "As a matter of fact, I haven't used it since that one time you witnessed all these years ago."

It had been many years ago indeed; however, when the memory had rushed back to Cam last night, it had been as vivid as if it had all happened just last week.

He didn't remember how old he was, but he could not have been more than twelve. He happened to cross the training plaza when a commotion by the edge of the forest caught his attention.

A small crowd had gathered around a Water ninja student. The young man was on the ground, his body convulsing in uncontrolled spasms, eyes rolled so far into the back of his head that only the whites showed. Cam had recognized him as one of his father's best students, a promising pupil in his last year at the academy. While Cam was still trying to figure out what had happened to the ninja, his father had suddenly stepped into the midst of the throng, an island of calm in the storm. He took one good look at the young man, knelt and simply placed the palm of his hand on his forehead with a look of intense concentration on his face. The student's reaction was stunning; his violent spasms subsided to random jerks of his limbs until he finally went completely still. Sensei Watanabe had turned to one of his students and quietly rattled off a list of items to be fetched from his study. While they waited for the ninja to return, his father continued to kneel by his fallen pupil, touching him in various places on his head and torso, all the while whispering words in a language that sounded ancient, not to mention incomprehensible, to Cam.

When the student returned, he handed Sensei a glass vial and Kanoi promptly forced the murky liquid inside down the unconscious Water ninja's throat. He offered no explanations to anyone and neither did any of the mortified young men and women surrounding him dare to ask any questions. Everyone simply stared and waited. Sensei continued his strange chant for a few more minutes before he switched to English and set out to coax his student back to reality with a mixture of gentle commands and directions. When the Water ninja regained consciousness a few minutes later, his eyes were clear and focused, and a collective gasp went up from the assembled students.

Sensei, however, simply helped his pupil up and led him away towards his study, leaving behind scores of unanswered questions.

Cam had taken the first opportunity, which happened to be their evening meal, to assault his father with a virtual arsenal of questions about the events of the afternoon.

Sensei finally relented and explained to his son that the Water ninja had attempted to control more than one of the elements of the Wind Ninja Academy, an experiment that most obviously had gone horrible wrong. The student, although talented as he was, had been unable to keep the multiple elements within him in a harmonious balance and the result was a complete overload of body and mind, forcing Sensei to 'purge' the warring Air and Earth elements from the Water ninja's body by means of a highly unconventional form of hypnosis called _Senshibankou._

According to his father, Senshibankou was believed to have its origins in China and somehow eventually made its way into ninjitsu. It was not taught at any ninja academy and Kanoi had not revealed to him how he had acquired his skills at this secret technique. It wasn't like Cam didn't want to know, but some things simply weren't discussed between them. Ninja secrecy was deeply rooted in Cam's upbringing, after all.

That event had had a profound impact on Cam, but since Sensei had never had to resort to this type of treatment again since that fateful afternoon, the memories had eventually receded to the back of Cam's mind. But they had come back full force last night.

Now Cam returned his father's carefully blank look with a pleading one until the old man finally expelled a heavy breath.

"I cannot guarantee success, Cam," he said quietly, his gaze transferring back to the training grounds below them.

"You said Blake told you that Hunter once stopped breathing while dreaming?"

"Yes." Cam noticed the concerned tone in his father's voice. "Do you think that could happen again? While he's in the trance?"

"I don't know." Sensei Watanabe was nothing if not honest. "There is no way to predict any physical or mental repercussions this procedure might have on him."

Cam suddenly noticed that the palms of his hands had become clammy. He rubbed them on his pants legs. "I'm aware of the potential of danger, Dad, and I don't like it any more than you do, but frankly…" he shrugged. "I can't think of any other way to rid him of this…this mental _crippledness_."

And that was the frustrating truth; he really couldn't come up with anything else, but that _something_ had to be done was not even a question. There was no way he could stand idly by and let the man he loved go through this again next year, or any year.

Sensei must have seen the dismayed look on Cam's face, for he suddenly rose from the bench and straightened his teachers' robes. "I will make a trip into the forest to gather some herbs necessary for the potion that will induce the level of deep trance required for this procedure." He suddenly locked eyes with Cam. "But the mere potion is not enough, Cam. It requires the voluntary submission of the afflicted. Ultimately, it is Hunter's decision, _and his decision alone_ , whether he is willing to undergo the treatment. All I can do is make the preparations. And all _you_ can do is extend the offer to help. There cannot be any pressure involved."

Cam nodded solemnly. "I understand."

Sensei put a hand on his son's shoulder, looking down on him with a mixture of pride and concern.

"Talk to him. And if Hunter is ready to face his demons, you know where to find me."

Then he turned and made his way down the pebbled walkway, leaving Cam on the bench to watch his retreating form.

 

**_Convincing Hunter…_ **

When Cam returned to Hunter's room around noon, he found the blond ninja kneeling on the floor, surrounded by the jackets and pants of two of his leather training uniforms. A bottle of mink oil and several cloths were sitting next to him, and Cam watched as Hunter ran a stained rag over his jacket sleeve, working the oil into the material. Conditioning the leather with mink oil was something he himself had done countless times on his own uniforms, but for some reason the domestic quality of that scene touched something warm inside him.

The warmth of the moment, however, was clearly lost on Hunter, who looked up at him with an exasperated expression.

"I think I'm going to put in a petition with the teacher's council to open a dry-cleaner on the grounds here. One that specializes in leather." He put the rag down with a grunt. "This is so tedious."

Cam gave an amused shake of his head and lowered himself to the floor, Indian-style, picking up the oil bottle and a cloth in the same motion. He picked up the other jacket, draping it across his lap.

Hunter threw him a quick glance. "You don't need to do that."

"I know," Cam gave his partner a slight grin. "But since samurai don't wear leather uniforms I need to stay in practice." He squirted some oil onto the rag. "Just in case Dad decides to change our suits sometime in the future. How would it look if I couldn't remember how to keep my uniforms in shape?"

Hunter replied by means of a half-amused snort and for a while the two young men worked in silence, with only the sounds of nature coming through the open window serving as pleasant background noise.  
"So you still want to grab some lunch?" Cam asked after a while.

Hunter kept his eyes on the cloth he was running over the lapel of his jacket. "I'm not really hungry, but you go ahead."

Cam put his own rag down, put his elbows on his thighs and steepled his fingers. "Hunter, would you just look at me, please?"

Hunter hesitated, but then their eyes met and he saw genuine concern in Cam's.

"Can we talk about this?" the samurai wanted to know.

"About lunch?"

"You know what I mean."

Hunter let out a deep, almost exasperated sigh. "There's nothing to talk about, Cam. Last night, tonight…It's just something I need to put up with a few nights a year, and then life's back to normal. I really just want to get this over with and then not think about it again until next year, okay?" He cast his boyfriend a rueful glance. "I'm just sorry you had to be dragged into it this time."

"I told you it was fine. I don't mind helping out," Cam said. "And even though I know you are much more comfortable with Blake helping you…"

Now Hunter looked up sharply. "Wrong. I'm not comfortable with his help, never have been. But it's not like I ever had a choice in that matter. I'm not comfortable with _anyone_ having to help me with this, because I'm not comfortable with the very reason I have to ask for help in the first place!" He shot up from the floor only to stand indecisively in the middle of the room for a moment before he threw himself facedown on the bed.

"Okay, okay, calm down." More deliberately than his tetchy partner, Cam rose from the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. He placed his hand onto the middle of Hunter's back and just waited until the Thunder ninja finally pulled his face out of the pillow and turned to Cam. When he spoke, his voice was calmer – and smaller.

"Who knows, maybe it's the punishment for something I did at one point in the past."

Cam stared at him for a long moment before he spoke. "Hunter, how long have you had those nightmares?"

Hunter sat up. "I already told you…"

"Then tell me again."

The blond ninja let out an audible sigh and grumbled, "All my life. As far back as I can remember."

"Be more specific," Cam pressed. "How old were you when Blake had to wake you up for the first time?"

"I don't know, five or six."

Cam crossed his arms before him. "And what kind of horrendous crime do you think a five-year old could have committed that would justify being punished with nightmares for the rest of his life?" he said, calmly hammering his point home without ever even having to raise his voice.

Hunter had no answer for this, but the hard look in his eyes softened a bit. The two partners gazed at each other silently until Cam reached out and clasped Hunter's shoulder. "No, I don't think it's anything you did."

Hunter didn't look particularly relieved at Cam's reassurance, but he swung his legs over the edge of the bed to sit next to the samurai. Elbows on his thighs, he hunched over, staring at the floor.

"You have no idea how this feels, Cam. I've battled countless monsters as a Ranger, yet a damn dream makes me break out in a cold sweat. Explain this to me, will you?"

Cam could only shrug. "If I could, I'd have a diploma in psychology hanging on the wall in my room instead of a Zen calligraphy scroll.  
"All I know is that you seem to be resigned to letting this dream dominate a part of every year of your life," he added pensively.

Hunter kept staring at the floor as if there was anything interesting to see in the indistinct pattern of the wooden floorboards.

Cam was not deterred. "Why?" he pressed and the silence stretched between them until finally, Hunter sighed.

"Because I'm a coward," he said so quietly that Cam had to strain to hear him.

Cam started. The young man next to him suddenly had nothing in common with the obnoxious, sometimes arrogant 'I don't care what anyone thinks about me' Hunter he had met a little over a year ago.

"Why would you say that?" Cam wondered.

"It's easier just to let it run its course every year, knowing that somebody will be there to pull me out in time." Hunter shook his head sadly. "Of course it sucks, and it scares the hell out of me every night, but it's become…familiar over time. Does that make any sense?"

Cam nodded in sympathy, his eyes fixed on Hunter's drawn face. "But being afraid doesn't make you a coward, Hunter."

Hunter just shrugged. "I sure as hell can't think of another word for it."

Cam looked pointedly at his partner. "A wise man once said: _Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear_."

At Hunter's wry look he added, "Mark Twain."

His blond partner cocked an eyebrow at him. "Funny," he said, "for some reason I would have imagined an old, crusty Zen master saying that."

A hint of a smile came into Cam's face. "There's most likely some crusty old Zen master out there somewhere who might've said the same thing at one point."

"Probably because he read Mark Twain, too."

They shared a brief chuckle and Cam scooted close enough to him to nudge his shoulder.

"It takes a lot of courage just to go through this year after year and come out of it okay every time."

"Not like I have a choice," Hunter said.

That was the opening Cam had been waiting for. He reached out, the backs of his fingers brushing Hunter's cheek, and the Thunder ninja looked at him at last.

"What if you did?" Cam said solemnly. "What would you do to be rid of it? To unravel the mystery of this dream and then to finally be able to move on with your life?" Cam put every ounce of persuasive power into this, willing his words to penetrate Hunter's mental wall. "To be free from this once and for all?"

Hunter stared at him hard, and Cam waited, letting it all sink in before he continued. "I might know a way to do just that, Hunter. It would involve a lot of trust on your part, but I really think there's a good chance this could work."

Hunter continued to peer at him mutely for a long moment, then he abruptly got up from the bed and walked towards the window. Leaning against the wall with one shoulder, he stared out onto the peaceful scenery of the deserted Thunder academy training plaza. After a moment, Cam followed him and settled himself on the windowsill across from his partner to begin the detailed outline of his father's special talent. He deliberately did not mention his earlier conversation with Sensei. Hunter listened without interrupting, but his frown increased steadily throughout Cam's illustration.

"So now we're back to psychotherapy again," he concluded with a hint of sarcasm after Cam had fallen silent.

"It's more than that," Cam corrected him. "It's actually a kind of hypnosis."

"And how much would he charge for that?"

Cam rolled his eyes at that question. "Come on, Hunter, you know better than to ask that."

"Sorry." Hunter pushed away from the wall to sit on the deep sill beside his boyfriend. "I appreciate the offer, Cam, I really do, but…" Hunter blinked, and the uneasy expression on his face was getting visibly more pronounced. "There's no waking up from a hypnotic trance."

Cam knew where Hunter was going with that train of thought. "You would be facing your entire dream, yes. All the way to the end," he concurred, but placed a hand over Hunter's. "But it's not true that you can't wake up from the trance. Dad will be able to pull you out if it gets too hairy. He won't let anything happen to you. And neither will I." He squeezed Hunter's hand. "But since you will be going further into the dream than ever before - it _will_ be more intense for you." _Not to mention unpredictable since we'll be heading into unknown territory,_ Cam added silently. Seeing the dark look that came into Hunter's eyes, he quickly continued. "We will both be there with you. You wouldn't be facing this alone."

Hunter's azure eyes bore into his. "Yeah, I would," he said quietly and unfortunately, Cam had nothing to refute this truth. Once the procedure was underway, Hunter would not be aware of Cam's presence anymore. There was really nothing Cam could do then other than hold Hunter's hand – a gesture the blond man would never notice.

He did so now, reaching out and Hunter reflectively closed his hand around Cam's as the samurai's fingers interlaced with his.

"Look, I'm not saying make a decision right here and now, but _do_ think about what Dad can do for you," Cam said. "You know I love you. But right now I'm offering you my help not as your lover, but as your friend: Let us help, Dad and I. Please." He drew closer, closing his eyes when their foreheads touched. Hunter said nothing, and Cam took the silence as a good sign.

They stayed motionless for a moment longer, then Cam placed a quick, chaste kiss on Hunter's lips. "I've got to get going, my class starts in a half hour. See you tonight." He cast him a deep look. Hunter mumbled a goodbye and watched until the door closed behind his partner before he took a long breath.

' _To be free from this once and for all…'_ Cam's words echoed through his mind, filling him with an anxious excitement. Definitely not an _un_ welcome feeling. He couldn't, however, suppress a shudder at the thought of what he would have to do in order to finally break the chains of The Dream.

And for a long while, Hunter continued to stare at the door without really seeing it at all.

 

**_Decisions…_ **

The sun was sitting low in the sky by the time a dusty and tired Cam was finally able to return to his room. He was looking forward to a long shower after having spent half the day in the woods doing tracking exercises with his samurai class.

When he pushed open his door, however, he saw Hunter sitting cross-legged on his bed, his boots neatly lined up at the foot of the frame. His boyfriend raised his chin in silent greeting, and Cam cocked an eyebrow, not because of his presence - they had exchanged keys to each other's rooms a few weeks ago - but because he hadn't expected to see him _here._

Even all the way by the door, Cam could feel the tension radiating off the blond ninja. His shoulders slumped as a dark feeling rose inside him _. 'He's not going to do it,'_ Cam thought dejectedly _. 'He's come here to tell me he's not going through with it.'_

Nevertheless, Cam stitched a smile onto his face while he crossed the room, shedding his dirt-crusted samurai robe along the way. Now in thin cotton training pants and a black t-shirt, he approached the bed.

"Hi. Wasn't I supposed to meet you back at your place again later on?"

"Yeah, but I thought I'd spare you a trip," came Hunter's low-voiced answer.

Cam's spirits hit the floor. He plopped down onto the mattress, readying himself to receive Hunter's rejection of his offer.

"After you left, I couldn't help thinking about what you said," Hunter said. Cam stayed silent, waiting.

Hunter sighed heavily and leaned his back against Cam's headboard. He rubbed his hands across his face, and Cam couldn't help but notice just how tired Hunter looked. Weary, both in body and soul.

The blond ninja's gaze refocused. "You said _'see you tonight'_."

At Cam's confused look he elaborated, "I'm no good at explaining things, but...when you said that, I realized that it means you'll be seeing the same thing again tonight that you saw last night and I..." Hunter shook his head, a look of abject dismay on his face. "I don't want that, Cam. I can't have you see me like this again. Not ever. With Blake it was different; it was something we had gotten used to, but with you...with you there, this thing has now gone from barely bearable to absolutely unbearable."

"I'm sorry, I..." Cam began.

"No, no, it's not like that!" Hunter cut in quickly, leaning forward to lock eyes with Cam. "This isn't about anything you did, okay? Not at all. See, if it had been Blake who made the suggestion about the hypnosis, I know I would have waved it off, but because it's you who has to see me like this...It made me realize that I can't let this happen again tonight, Cam. And if that means getting hypnotized and facing the dream then I'm willing to do that." Hunter paused and a muscle in his face twitched. "Don't get me wrong - I'm scared shitless, but this has now turned into the proverbial lesser one of the two evils." He slumped back against the headboard and closed his eyes as if exhausted from his speech.

Cam smiled; this was probably the longest sentence he had ever heard from Hunter. He was also glad to hear that his initial thought of the reason behind Hunter's presence in his room had been proven wrong. Hunter was ready to brave his nightmare and Cam had every intention of seeing this thing through with him to the end.

He leaned forward, kissing the blond ex-Ranger on the lips. "You're going to be all right," he said after their mouths parted again.

Hunter nodded, but there was no conviction in his eyes. He stared at Cam's amulet for the better part of a minute before he said, "So…when can we do this?"

Cam's gaze went from Hunter's face to the window, where the purple shadows of twilight were already gathering. "How about now?" he suggested softly.

Hunter's already pale face lost some more of its color, but the Thunder ninja nodded resolutely. "Then let's go."

It was a quarter to six in the evening when they knocked on the door of Sensei Watanabe's quarters.


	5. Chapter 5

The armchair was a deep and cozy leather Lazy Boy set to a comfortable reclining position. Cam loved this armchair, but Hunter, who currently occupied it, looked more like he was strapped to a maniacal dentist's chair to receive an involuntary root canal without the benefits of painkillers. And from the look on the blond man's face Cam had the strong notion that his partner would probably prefer the root canal if given a choice.

Hunter was fidgety. It had struck him as odd that Sensei hadn't seemed particularly surprised to see them. That feeling turned into downright suspicion at the old teacher's lack of more than just a minimal amount of questions about his condition before he went to retrieve the potion for the inducement of the trance – which just happened to be at hand on Sensei's desk. Hunter cast Cam a pointed look; the samurai's face was carefully blank, but Hunter was pretty sure that an in-depth conversation between the two Watanabes had already taken place at one point, probably yesterday. Hunter was surprised to find that that didn't bother him; actually - now that he thought about it - Kanoi Watanabe was most likely the only other person apart from Cam he could see himself turn to for help.

Didn't mean he wasn't going to have a little chat with Cam later on, though.

A few steps away, Cam put some effort into putting an encouraging smile on his face, and he wasn't offended when Hunter didn't return it. The former Crimson Ranger's eyes were fixing on Sensei, who was just returning from his desk, a wooden bowl in his hands. He handed it to Hunter, but the Thunder ninja made no motion to drink. Instead, he fixed Kanoi with a penetrating look. "Sensei, I have one other favor to ask…"

But Kanoi was already holding up his hand. "Whatever is going to be said or heard from now on is going to stay in this room," he said reassuringly and Cam inclined his head in agreement. Hunter looked between his partner and his former mentor, then nodded solemnly and downed the potion in one deep swallow.

The effects were prompt; by the time Sensei had put the bowl away, Hunter's eyes were already glazing over. He leaned back into the recliner, his hands gripping the armrests. Suddenly, Sensei's voice floated to him from somewhere by his right shoulder.

"Now I want you to relax and just breathe, Hunter." The warm palm of a hand touched his forehead. "Your eyes, they are getting heavy..."

Cam's blurry face was the last thing Hunter saw before his eyelids closed.

Sensei leaned closer to the Thunder ninja, and Cam was overcome with a sense of déjà vu as he watched his father touch Hunter in the same places he had the Water ninja so many years ago, chanting mysterious ancient words in a soft, low voice.

It couldn't have been longer than two minutes before Sensei straightened up and removed his hands from Hunter's head and chest. He waited for a moment before he spoke.

"Hunter, can you hear me?"

"…Yes."

Hunter's eyes were moving behind his closed eyelids, but otherwise his body was completely still.

Sensei leaned forward once more. "You are now in a deep sleep, Hunter," he said, his voice quiet and calm. "You are comfortable and relaxed, utterly relaxed."

Hunter's only movement was the steady rise and fall of his chest. Cam shot his father a look, but Sensei was watching the blond Thunder ninja's face. "How are you feeling, Hunter?" he asked after a moment.

"Comfortable." Hunter's voice was even, tranquil.

"And?"

"Relaxed."

Sensei nodded, pleased. "Good. Now, your mind is going to go on a journey, but whatever you will encounter along the way, you will face it without fear, do you understand?"

Cam noted that his father's voice had taken on a slightly more commanding tone, and Hunter responded to it right away. "Yes."

Sensei looked up, making eye contact with Cam for the first time since the beginning of the session. The older man nodded briefly, giving his son a slight smile, and Cam felt some of the hidden tension leave his shoulders. Earlier on, in order to help his partner relax, he had taken pains to appear more confident than he actually felt about this entire procedure.

The old teacher turned back to his former student. "We are now making time move forward, Hunter. This does not surprise you; you will flow forward with me with ease." Sensei paused, probably to give Hunter a moment to adjust to what was going to happen next. "It is now four o'clock…five…six…" Slowly, Sensei took Hunter through the hours until he reached eleven o'clock.

"Hunter, you are feeling tired, ready to go to bed. It's late and it has been a long, busy day. You are looking forward to getting some sleep." Sensei paused. "Are you tired, Hunter?"

"Yes. Long day."

"Good. You are in bed now and your body is relaxing. Sleep is coming over you and in a moment you will dream…"

At that Hunter's body tensed. Sensei immediately put a hand on his shoulder. "You will relax, Hunter. There is nothing to be afraid of. You will dream your usual dream, but this time it will be different, for there is nothing to fear. Do you understand?"

"…Yes." His voice was still strained, but his body adhered to Sensei's words and relaxed.

"Very well. You are now going to enter your dream." Kanoi's voice was so calm, it was beginning to have a hypnotic effect on _Cam_. He blinked a few times to shrug it off.

In the armchair, Hunter was still outwardly relaxed, but a few beads of perspiration had begun to gather along his temples.

"Look around you, Hunter," Sensei said. "Where are you? What do you see?"

Hunter's head turned slightly, yet his eyes remained closed. "The Thunder Academy, the training grounds."

"Are you alone?"

"No. Sensei Omino is here. He's holding my hand." Hunter's right hand twitched.

Sensei nodded to himself. "Who else is there with you?"

Hunter didn't respond right away. Instead he swallowed heavily.

"Hunter?"

"They are both here," he said haltingly. "He's kneeling in front of me, staring at me. I can't look away from his face. I hear her talking to me, but I can't look at her, can't look away from his face…"

A strange expression came over Sensei's face. "Who are they?"

Hunter's reply was barely a whisper in the silence of the room. "My parents."

 

_**Memories…** _

Cam expelled the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. _I knew it!_ _The moment he spoke about a man's face and a woman's voice last night…_

Hunter had once told him that the Bradleys, their adoptive parents, had died when he and Blake were still very young. It was most certainly the one most traumatic experience in Hunter's life; it made sense that they would be in the forefront of his recurring nightmare.

Cam's gaze darted between Hunter and Kanoi, but his father was totally focused on the object of his hypnosis.

"What is happening, Hunter?"

"They are dressed in their ninja suits, they are wearing their equipment belts and their weapons. They have bags over their shoulders." The Thunder ninja's respiration became more rapid. "They are going away, on a mission. Sensei is sending them somewhere."

Kanoi abruptly reached out and pulled a nearby footstool towards him. He sank down onto it with a mixture of understanding and distress contorting his features.

And then the truth hit Cam too, so suddenly and forcefully that he actually had to sit down as well. Sensei cast him a worried glance as he sank into the closest chair.

The Bradleys had both died while on a secret mission for the Thunder Academy. It was all so clear now…

"This is no dream, Dad," he whispered.

"No, Son. It isn't," Sensei agreed gravely.

Cam turned back to Hunter's strained face, stunned by the enormity of this sudden revelation; for the past fifteen or so years of his life, Hunter had relived the suppressed, real-life memories of his last moments with his parents through this dream.

The shudder that ran through Cam was icy.

"Dad…?"

Sensei looked up.

"Will he remember any of this once he wakes up?" Cam asked.

"This isn't your traditional hypnosis, Cam," Sensei replied. "He will remember everything he sees in his mind. That is part of the cure, after all. Everything he sees before him now is real to him, and everything he touches has substance to him."

Cam only nodded, his eyes never leaving Hunter's face.

Sensei interpreted Cam's gaze correctly. His son wanted to spare his partner any potential embarrassment. He gave a seemingly casual shrug. "As for whether he will remember anything he _says_ or _does_ from this point on…I don't know." His glance brushed Cam's. "But if he doesn't, I don't think it would be beneficial to tell him."

"Right." Cam gave his father a look of gratitude.

That settled, Sensei turned back to his patient. By now, Hunter's fingers were digging deeply into the leather of the armrests and the perspiration on his face had noticeably increased. "I want to go with them, but Sensei won't let go of my hand."

Cam cleared his throat, and when Kanoi looked at him he mouthed _Blake_.

"Is Blake there with you, Hunter?" Sensei asked.

Hunter shook his head in negation. "No. Mom put him down for a nap."

 _If you had napped too, you wouldn't have to go through all this now,_ Cam thought ruefully.

Hunter suddenly jerked. "No, wait, Dad, don't go!"

"No. Let them go," Sensei said.

Hunter's reaction was immediate, the fear in his voice loud and clear. "No! They'll die!"

Sensei exchanged a grave glance with Cam, then grasped Hunter's shoulder. "Yes, they will, Hunter," he said, brutally but necessarily honest. "But they will die after they have successfully completed their mission, thus bringing honor upon themselves as well as the Thunder Academy."

A tremulous sob erupted from Hunter's chest. "No. Please don't let them go!"

"They are aware of the risks, Hunter, they are ninjas," Sensei insisted. "You must make peace with their decision to carry out their mission."

"They can't just leave me here!"

Hunter's voice sounded so forlorn that Cam thrust his hands into his jeans pockets to keep from wrapping them around himself – or around his partner, for that matter. He understood the need for his father's honesty in order for Hunter to come to terms with his fear, but it was still incredibly hard having to listen to it.

By the armchair, Sensei was speaking calmly to Hunter. "There is no choice. This mission requires the expertise of both of them."

Hunter shook his head. "They'll die!" he repeated, sobs now wracking his whole frame. Suddenly – just like last night - his arm shot out, the fingers of his hand curling around empty air as if it were a lifeline. Which, in a sense, it was. Cam wondered which one of his parents Hunter was now holding on to in his mind. Crimson energy was once again crackling over the blond man's fist.

Sensei kept up his calm, yet authoritative voice. "Hunter, one day you will be a ninja as well, and so will Blake. And you too will be asked to go on important missions for your academy."

Cam realized with a start that his father was no longer talking to present-day Hunter, but to a frightened four-year old boy.

"I know that your parents' decision to leave you behind is difficult to comprehend, but one day, the day you will depart on your first mission, it will all become clear to you."

"I'll never see them again. Never!"

Cam's heart felt like it was being torn apart by the sound of sheer misery in Hunter's voice.

"You will not be alone," Sensei replied gently. "You will be looked after by Sensei Omino and the entire Thunder Academy. Your parents and their sacrifice will never be forgotten."

Hunter's outstretched arm quivered and the knuckles of his fist were bone-white from the imaginary death grip he had on his mom or dad.

"NO!"

"You must let them go," Sensei ordered him.

Hunter's face was as white as the knuckles of his fist. "Please..."

Kanoi was adamant. "They must carry out the task they were given. Ninja honor dictates it."

Hunter just sobbed, his arm frozen in mid-air.

Sensei kept pressing. "It is inevitable, Hunter. They have to go now. It's time to say goodbye."

Cam couldn't take much more of this. He shot from his chair and took two steps towards the armchair, but an intense glare from Kanoi stopped him dead in his tracks. Suddenly, Hunter's image became blurry and it wasn't until he felt wetness rolling down his cheeks that he realized he was crying silently.

Turning back to Hunter, Sensei raised his hand and stroked the young man's hair. "Open your hand, Hunter. Let them go," he said quietly.

Hunter let out a cry so tormented it sounded more primal than human, sending an icy tingle down Cam's spine. But slowly, his hand opened, the fingers stretching out, still reaching, but not grabbing anymore; Hunter was trying to prolong the imaginary contact for as long as possible, a precious half-second more. Then, abruptly, his hand dropped into his lap like a stone.

For a long moment, the silence in the room was absolute. Hunter was crumbled into the recliner, unmoving, the tear tracks on either side of his face shining wetly in the golden light of Sensei's desk lamp. He looked resigned, yet so utterly devastated that Cam had to look away to keep his own tears from flowing again. He could not keep the hoarse sob inside, though.

Sensei Watanabe looked at Cam out of the corner of his eye. His son's face was clouded with distress and his hands were balled into fists at his side. Kanoi found that this surprised him; he had expected Cam to become disturbed at the developments at some point, but now he could see that his son was taking Hunter's pain much harder than he had anticipated. Cam's need to envelope Hunter in a protective hug and to ease him out of his pain was as tangible to Sensei as if Cam had spoken this desire out loud. But his son also possessed the frame of mind to know that none of this was possible right now. Hunter had to fight this battle alone, with Cam being reduced to the near-unendurable role of helpless spectator. Nevertheless, there clearly was a storm of emotions brewing inside Cam and Kanoi's heart went out to him. Then Cam suddenly raised his eyes to meet his gaze, and the old teacher saw in them a pain he instantly recognized. It made his blood run cold, for it was the exact same kind of pain that still re-visited him occasionally on particularly dark and lonely nights.

Miko.

He should have known; should have guessed that this whole experience would throw Cam into an unwanted voyage down a twenty-some year old road of grief and anguish for the mother he barely remembered and who had died way too soon. Guilt tore at Kanoi's heart and he silently chastised himself for exposing Cam to this old wound, unintentional as it had been. Clearly, a talk with Cam was in order, but it had to wait until the more pressing business at hand was settled. So Sensei Watanabe tore his gaze from his son's moist eyes and returned his attention to the suddenly inanimate figure in the armchair.

He touched Hunter's cheek. "They will always love you, Hunter, and their legacy will live on in you and Blake. Their spirits will be watching over you. And one day you will see them again."

Cam risked a quick look at Hunter's face to judge whether this reference to the incident in the Cave of Souls from a year ago had any effect on the Thunder ninja, who, in his mind, was still a young boy right now. But Hunter just sat with his head hanging low, the lashes of his closed eyelids still shimmering with his last few unshed tears.

"You have someone to take care of now, Hunter. You must be strong for Blake's sake." Sensei's voice was rough with emotion. Cam transferred his gaze to his father, and in the old man's eyes he saw such compassion for Hunter's pain that for a moment he didn't know which one of the two men he wanted to hug first.

He sat back down on the footstool instead. He felt drained just from the task of watching this horribly emotional spectacle. How must his dad be feeling - and Hunter?

Sensei had sat back down on the chair next to the recliner as well.

"Well done, Hunter. You have overcome the worst of your dream. Now you can finally heal."

Sensei took a deep breath and held it while he placed the palm of his hand onto the center of Hunter's chest. He fixed him with a look of intense concentration, then slowly expelled the air from his lungs – and Hunter relaxed. His balled fists opened and the hunch in his shoulders straightened out. It was as if Sensei's calming energy had transferred into him through the touch.

"Let's leave the past where it belongs – in the past," Kanoi said quietly. "Now that these memories have been freed from the depths of your mind, you will no longer have use for them in the form of dreams. Thus you will dream no more, because now you can remember instead."

Sensei was still looking at Hunter, but his next words were directed at Cam. "I believe he is ready to return to us now."

With the back of his hand, Cam quickly wiped at his eyes. No need for Hunter to see just how much of an emotional wringer the past thirty minutes had been for him.

"Cam?"

Cam turned to find his father now gazing at him. "Will you join me for tea tomorrow? I think we should speak...of your mother."

Cam swallowed, but nodded resolutely. "I would like that, Dad."

Kanoi gave him a small smile before he turned back to Hunter. He kept his hand on the blond man's chest. "It's time to return to the present, Hunter. You will travel beyond the dream now, back to reality. I will show you the way. Just breathe with me."

Hunter did, and for the next few minutes, Sensei guided him through the maze of his unconsciousness with a steady voice that alternated between directions in English and low chants in the oddly familiar, yet indecipherable ancient language Cam recognized from his memory all these years ago.

It took a few more moments, but then Hunter's eyes fluttered open.

Cam started; his partner's usually brilliant blue eyes were dull, the good-natured twinkle replaced by a soul-crushing pain. Cam swallowed hard. He had kept up the small hope that his dad was wrong and maybe Hunter _wouldn't_ remember what had happened in the last half hour, after all. But one look into those agonized blue orbs shattered that hope.

Hunter remembered. He remembered everything.

Sensei gently squeezed the blond man's shoulder. "Welcome back, Hunter."

Hunter merely blinked a few times, slowly raised a hand and wiped his eyes.

No one spoke. There was nothing to say, nothing that could possibly take away the pain that was now permanently uprooted from Hunter's subconscious mind.

Hunter slowly shifted his position until he was poised at the edge of the armchair, but he looked so shaken-up and unsteady that it seemed unlikely the former Crimson Ranger could stand up on his own. He drew a ragged breath and slowly looked up into sensei Watanabe's face, pained azure boring into compassionate brown.

"Th..." When his voice failed him, he cleared his throat, then tried again. "Thank you, Sensei."

Kanoi patted his knee affectionately. "I think you'll sleep well tonight."

 

_**Epilogue…** _

The trek back to Cam's room was very slow and conducted in complete silence. Once inside, Hunter fell heavily onto the bed and simply lay there, unmoving, staring into space.

Cam sensed that this was not the time to initiate a talk. Hunter was still alarmingly pale and his breath was coming in ragged puffs as if the short walk from Sensei's quarters had depleted the last of his energy.

So Cam moved around his room, busying himself with little things to give his partner the time and relative privacy he undoubtedly needed right now. He had just sat down to unlace his sneakers when Hunter started to speak.

"I can't believe it was _them_ all these times and I never realized it," he said, his monotone voice only underscoring his mental exhaustion.

Cam stepped out of his shoes, then moved across the room to the bed and began to take off his partner's boots. "You probably did while dreaming, but every time you woke up your subconscious mind just blocked it out." While talking, he continued to undress Hunter, taking off his socks, jeans and finally his crimson shirt. Hunter let him. There was nothing sexually suggestive behind what Cam was doing; he was simply helping his emotionally and physically worn-out boyfriend get comfortable for bed.

"But…why?" came the close-eyed query.

Cam shrugged. "Maybe that was just your way of dealing with the trauma. After their deaths…you had to be strong for Blake, remember? You couldn't afford to fall apart, so you probably never let yourself grieve properly for them."

To Cam's surprise, a tiny smile came to the corners of Hunter's mouth. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a psychiatrist," he said, opening his eyes. "I thought you studied Computer Technology in college."

"That's not psychiatry, just logical deductions," Cam replied. "Besides, if someone I care about has a problem, especially something as profound as yours, I want to get to the bottom of it." Cam draped Hunter's clothes over a chair, then went on to undress himself. When he was down to boxer shorts and undershirt, he climbed into bed, pulling his reversible green/crimson comforter over them both.

If Hunter had deemed the conversation to be over right now, Cam would have been perfectly happy to go to sleep without any more comments and for a few minutes it seemed that that was exactly what was happening – but then Hunter suddenly spoke again.

"Remember when you asked Blake whether he knew why the dream always occurred at the same dates every year?"

"Uh..hu," was all Cam said.

"Well, the date does have significance," Hunter admitted and Cam noticed a faint guilty undertone in his partner's voice.

"Go on."

"It happens every year," Hunter began. "...on the anniversary of our parents' deaths."

Cam turned his head, looking at Hunter incredulously. "And Blake never made the connection?"

Hunter held his gaze. "He doesn't know," he said simply.

"Doesn't know what?" the samurai asked somewhat dumbly.

"The date. He never knew exactly when our parents were killed." The Thunder ninja paused. "I myself didn't find out the actual date until I was around ten, after I finally coaxed it out of Sensei Omino."

"And you never told Blake about it." There was only the slightest trace of displeasure in Cam's voice.

Hunter was quiet for a while, his eyes fixed on a spot on the ceiling. "I simply couldn't risk it. After I made the connection between the date and my dream, I was afraid of telling him. I mean…" He finally looked at Cam. "What if he had developed the same symptoms? You've seen how bad it is. I couldn't let him go through the same shit. Besides, who would wake us _both_ up, then?"

Cam was about to argue that Blake might have been just fine, but he also saw the logic in Hunter's reasoning; big brother protecting little brother, simple as that. "I understand."

Hunter gave Cam a shadow of a smile.

The samurai reached out, tracing his blond partner's jaw line with one finger while he spoke. "You told me once that Blake was barely three when your adoptive parents died. And you two are, what...a little over a year apart?" At Hunter's nod, he continued, "So he was pretty much still a baby whereas you, at four years old, probably already acquired a somewhat advanced recollective ability. But with the trauma of your parents' deaths you repressed these memories. And sometime over the years, those memories came back in form of The Dream," he concluded.

Hunter nodded thoughtfully, then let out a sigh. "Man, this is going to be one heck of a phone call to Blake tomorrow."

"Will you tell him…everything?" Cam inquired, remembering Hunter's anxiety about possible repercussions for his little bro. But Hunter simply nodded again.

"Yeah. He deserves to know everything after all this time. He'll probably be mad at me for withholding the date from him, but I'll just throw it back at him for never having figured it out himself." He grinned weakly, then suddenly scooted closer to Cam and the two young men fitted themselves together comfortably, Hunter spooned up against Cam, back to belly. Cam put his arm around Hunter's slim waist and waited, sensing that his lover had not yet finished speaking. He was right.

"I don't remember if I ever cried for them when I was little," came Hunter's voice after a moment. "Like you said, I had Blake to take care of, after all. And when I got older, the memory had receded to a point where it was just a dull ache, not sharp enough to cry anymore." Hunter paused. "But now that has all changed. The wound's ripped open again..." He shook his head, and the sorrow in his voice made Cam ache for him.

 _I know how you feel, believe me._ But instead, Cam said, "You know,you can cry now, if you feel the need to. I've got a shoulder right here for you."  
Hunter suddenly moved, turned to face Cam and a grateful half-smile crossed his face. "Yeah, I know. I appreciate the offer, Cam, and if I feel the urge coming on, I might just take you up on it." He shook his head. "I just can't cry on command."

They hugged, and Cam held on tight for a moment, cherishing his partner's warm presence. But when they broke apart, Hunter's gaze was solemn. Full of love and gratitude, but solemn.

"Cam, what you and your dad did for me today…that isn't something that I can just brush off with a thank you and move on. You freed me from something that's been crippling me my entire life. Problem is, I don't know what to do to repay you for this. For standing by me through this, no matter how bad it got."

"It wasn't…" Cam interjected, but Hunter wasn't deterred.

"Don't even try to play it down. I've seen your face, Cam. I _know_ it was bad." The samurai opened his mouth for anther protest, but Hunter wasn't having it. "You were crying. Your eyes were red."

Cam blinked. _Damn._ "I was…" Hunter's intense gaze choked off the rest of Cam's words. He cleared his throat. "It was…tough," was all he admitted.

"So you can imagine why I wanted to shield Blake from even the potential of developing the same nightmares," Hunter said solemnly. He propped himself up on his elbow, thought for a moment, then continued, "I don't want to blow my own horn or anything, but I know I'm the stronger half of the Bradley brothers; I can deal with this much better. I might be brooding and anti-social, but I'm stronger.  
"Oh yeah, and gay," he added.

"And what does _that_ have to do with anything?" Cam said, brows furrowing.

"You'd be surprised at how many people see that as the ultimate character flaw."

Cam merely snorted. "Well, I always thought you being gay was definitely one of your better attributes. For all I know, that's probably part of the reason why you're a stronger person. And as for anyone who's got a problem with who you are – _who we are_ \- I say screw them!"

Hunter's eyebrows rose in surprise at Cam's choice of words, and the corners of his mouth flicked upward.

"You know what? You're damn right." He almost said 'straight', but since they were half-naked in bed together, it didn't seem to be the appropriate word for that particular situation.

Hunter pulled Cam tightly against him for a kiss that came close to draining the samurai of just about all the air he had in his lungs before he let him go again. Two azure eyes fixed on him. "Let's not just have sex tonight; let's make love," Hunter whispered, giving Cam no time to respond before his mouth clamped over the samurai's again.

Gradually, hands, lips and tongues began to explore already familiar contours, touching, caressing. Cam looked into Hunter's eyes, and it was the old Hunter he knew and loved who was looking back at him. And Cam smiled at the knowledge that this time his partner would remain who he was indefinitely.

There would be no more annual recurrences of The Dream. The time for nightmares was over. Only good dreams awaited them in the future. Cam pulled the blond head down for another kiss.

Afterwards, they lay together, limbs entangled, fingers interlaced, closer in body and mind than they had ever thought possible. With his lover's head on his chest, Cam could _feel_ Hunter's heart beat as he ran his hand through those dirty-blond strands. He was teetering precariously on the edge of sleep when Hunter's voice suddenly drifted up to him.

"I think your dad might be right. I think I'll sleep well tonight."

**THE END**


End file.
